Delaware Conrad State 30/J-1 Visa Program

Delaware Conrad State 30/J-1 Visa Program

Board of Director’s Meeting

September 3rd, 2013

12:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.

Division of Public Health

Jesse Cooper Building

Dover, Delaware

Board Members Attending

Larry Jester, Nanticoke Memorial Hospital

Richard Leader, MD, St. Francis Hospital

Marilyn Hill, Beebe Medical Center

Katherine Collison, Division of Public Health

Mark Meister, Medical Society of Delaware

Board Members Absent

Brian Olson, La Red Health Center

Paul Lakeman, Bayhealth Medical Center

Kevin Sheahan, MD, Nemours Pediatric Clinic

Invited Guest Attending

Gayle MacAfee of the Division of Professional Regulation and Discipline

Gerard Gallucci,MD, Office of Secretary, DHSS

Wayne Smith, Division of Public Health

Staff Attending

Joan Barnwell, Division of Public Health

Judith Chaconas, Division of Public Health

Daniel Isom, Division of Public Health

Call to Order

Joan Barnwell called the meeting to order.

Minutes

Mark Meister madea motion to accept the May 7, 2013 minutes andDr. Richard Leader seconded the motion. The motion carried.

Status Report: Federal Fiscal Year 10/11

Ms. Barnwell reported the number, type and location of sites approved for physicianplacement.She reported the following approved slots:

2010 - 2

2011 - 5

2012 - 17

2013 - 13

Total = 37 approved slots

There have been a total of seven (7) J-1 physicians hired out of the 30 slots allowed for Federal Fiscal Year 2013.

Old Business:

Physician Licensure Update –Gayle MacAfee, Executive Director of theDelaware Board of Medical Licensure and Discipline,She stated that legislation hasbeen introduced that would remove the requirement for a personal interview, decrease the requirement to provide service letters for the past 5 years to 3 years, and make the application process for streamlined, for example to allow submittal of all documentation at one time and implementing an electronic submission process. The approval process now takes approximately 45 days opposed to approximately 90 days previously. Additionally, the following changes have already taken place that will hopefully decrease the licensure processing time:

• Service letters can now be faxed or e-mailed and no longer require a hospital seal or letter of attestation that the facility has no seal
• The American Medical Association and American Osteopathic Association reports are being pulled immediately upon receipt of an application in order to identify any discrepancies when initially reviewing the application (this was being done at the end of the process)
• There is an online mechanism that applicants can utilized to check the status of their pending application 24 hours a day.
• Gayle MacAfee is now screening all applications and determines to either send them to the board for further review or waive the interview process

Delaware Conrad 30/J-1 Regulations – Proposed Revisions/Updates – There were no public comments to the posted proposed regulation revisions. The revised regulations went into effect on August 11th, 2013. They will be posted to the website for public access.

Site Applications Approved:

1. Mid Sussex Medical Center – 1 Pulmonary/Critical Care, Seaford

1. Seaford Internal Medicine – 3 Internal Medicine, Seaford/Georgetown

1. Approved pending the malpractice insurance not being paid for by the office being addressed in conversation to determine if this was intended. Staff will also request that the non-solicitation and liquidated damages clauses being removed from the employment contract, as the Board determined that the clauses have the affect of a non-complete provision. Staff will share the non-compete prohibition language in the program regulations with the applicant.

1. Arthritis & Osteoporosis Center – 1 Rheumatology, Seaford
2. Approved pending the non-solicitation clause being removed from the employment contract, as the Board determined that the clauses have the affect of a non-complete provision.Staff will share the non-compete prohibition language in the program regulations with the applicant.

Employment Contract Reviews

The board reviewedand approved thefollowing employment contracts:

1. Meriam Chua, MD (Psychiatrist), Mind and Body, Dover/Milford.

1. Ximena Ruiz, MD (Rheumatologist), Arthritis & Osteoporosis, Seaford

1. Approved pending the non-solicitation clause being removed from the employment contract.

1. Nadia Arshad, MD (Family Medicine) Family Practice, Wilmington

1. Approved pending the removal of the non-solicitation clause from the employment contract and address the last paragraph from appendix B.The Board determined that the clauses have the affect of a non-complete provision.Staff will share the non-compete prohibition language in the program regulations with the applicant.

Public Comments:

None

Other Business:

Marilyn Hill stated that Dr. Balu would like to make a presentation to the board entitled “Challenges in the recruitment and retention of candidates faced by employers participating in the state J-1 waiver program”.

Dr. Jona Gorra is requesting to become a member of the board. The board would like her to submit a letter of request as well as a current CV for their review. Her request will be decided upon during the next scheduled board meeting.

Next Steps:

Dr. Balu will be contacted by staff to find out if a special meeting will be required due to time constraints at a regular meeting.

Joan Barnwell will contact the sites regarding their employmentcontracts’ “non-compete”/”non-solicitation” clauses to be removed. The revised regulations will be supplied to future site applicants, when possible, to avoid clauses in the employment contracts that are not allowed according to the regulations.

Therevised regulations are to be posted to the program’s website for public view.

Next Meeting:

The next meeting will take place on December 3rd, 2013, 12:00 p.m., Third Floor Conference Room, Jesse Cooper State Office Building, 417 Federal Street, Dover, Delaware.

Adjourn:

The meeting adjourned.